Trey Morris, on April 19, 2022
Don't do it. I know you want to do it, but you can't.
Seriously! STOP IT!
"Do what" you innocently ask?
Pitching your product or service in your first meeting with a new client.
"But…but…but," I can already hear your excuses.
"We are SALES people! We are supposed to SELL!"
Technically, yes, you are "supposed" to sell, but not yet!
Be patient. Follow the process. Trust the process. We have to slow down the sales process so that we can speed up the sale!
Greg Giersch, on February 22, 2022
Your biggest competition in B2B sales can be what might be described as the comfort of the blue pill, as made famous in the Matrix series.
In the movie, Morpheus, describes the blue pill as waking up in your bed and believing whatever you want to believe.
There's a natural desire for prospects to want to believe things are good and have a preference for doing nothing. At least nothing in relation to your product or service.
The blue pill and red pill choice that Morpheus gives Neo in the Matrix comes into play in sales when you have insights. The red pill is one that may prompt the prospect to make changes in their status quo. It’s a choice the client must make for themselves, but your approach will have a great influence on that choice.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on February 3, 2022
New business efforts are full steam ahead!
As we help execute new business sales drives for different sales organizations from all over the country, we're uncovering a significant difference between how management feels this should be accomplished versus the salespeople charged with generating the revenue.
Jim Hopes, on January 20, 2022
Perhaps you got excited when you read the first part of the headline.
I got excited too, wishing there was a list of “magical” questions that could be asked of any prospect with a great result. The problem is, such a list does not exist.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on July 8, 2021
Have you ever come back to your office after a solid Needs Analysis meeting and shared the exciting news with your manager?
As you sit down to recap, your manager starts to ask you questions about the prospect, and you realize you can’t answer them.
Critical information that you need was never even discussed. The assignment that you uncovered and thought was strong is actually vague, and you begin to understand clearly that you're missing key pieces of information.
You start to deflate as you realize this meeting wasn’t as good as you thought after all.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on May 13, 2021
Our team coaches salespeople from markets across the country on tactical things they can do within their sales process to help them connect with a decision maker or decision influencer faster to grow their new business.
Many things can be done to accomplish this, but one that seems to be resonating with salespeople lately is identifying their target persona so they can clearly define WHO their target is and fine tune HOW they plan to approach a new business prospect.
This is not a new strategy, just one that is often overlooked.
Kurt Sima, on February 4, 2021
The old saying “when it rains, it pours” seems to apply to order cancellations, and it seems like when cancellations occur, they occur in bunches. Here’s what many sellers do when they experience a bunch of order cancellations:
1. Have a negative reaction and argue with the client.
2. Panic and go after any account they can sell.
3. Look for ways to close a quick deal to make up for lost revenue—including dropping the price to close a deal.
4. Sell new prospects whatever they can sell without worrying about delivering results.
All items on this list ultimately lead to short term sales AND more cancellations in the future.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on January 28, 2021
So much has been said and written about what top sellers do to set themselves apart from the average and low performing salespeople.
Let’s look at this from a different angle. What things do they make certain to NEVER do?
In order to fully understand what makes a high performing sales person, it’s helpful to recognize behaviors NOT exhibited by this elite group.
Trey Morris, on December 24, 2020
"Silence is golden"—usually this is said right after your children leave the room and you finally have a moment of peace.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on October 14, 2020
Just securing an appointment is one of the most difficult steps in the entire sales process. Having a referral or industry success story makes this task a little easier (so, use them if you have them).
But, what do you use if you don’t have either at your disposal? What if you just can't get the appointment?
